Throwing Curveballs Our Way

Life has a funny way of pushing us down one path or another. Sometimes things have to be so blatantly obvious for us to accept a new direction in our lives. This coming Monday, June 9th, Tom and I will be moving! We are moving from Walnut Creek to an area called Redwood Shores, about half-way between San Francisco and San Jose. In this post I will focus on the questions you must be asking : What?, Why?, Where? and How?.

What? I know ... "what the heck?" is what we have been saying throughout this process. We never expected to pick up our lives and move while I am waiting for a transplant, especially this late in the waiting process. My health is really deteriorating, but continue reading and you'll see that it makes a lot of sense.

Why? This is what most of you are probably asking. We actually thought about this move seven months ago right before I was listed. We opened up the Craigslist website to look for rentals in an area known as the Peninsula, but we were discouraged by the exorbitant rental prices and the intense competition to find anything half decent. I will admit, I gave up too quickly. I was comfortable in my home and my familiar surroundings. Well, as I said earlier, life has a funny way of shoving you down a path that you once thought you might take, but then backed away from. Currently, we live across the street and up a slight hill from Walnut Creek's main town area. The town itself includes an outdoor mall. As of early April, the mall and parking garages started being torn down. We can see the entire construction site, and hear every concrete smash and jack hammer that goes into the ground. Tom and I started to worry about the dust, and the noise was driving us both mad. My doctors said that the dirt thrown up into the air from the construction would most likely be filled with loads of fungus and other bacteria that can harm my lungs, both before and after transplant. There will always be some construction, but living 100 yards from it is far from an ideal situation. We have not been able to open our doors or windows for weeks from fear of breathing in the dust particles, never mind the endless noise.

We realized this construction was a sign telling us we needed to move, preferably closer to Stanford where we will be spending a lot of time in the future. It doesn't really make sense living 50 miles away from the hospital I will be spending so much time at. So with all that in mind, we set ourselves the arduous task of finding a new place to live. Trying to find a rental in the Peninsula, also known as Silicon Valley, is not for the faint of heart. Prices are through the roof and competition is insane. Over the course of three weeks we made numerous 100-mile round trips, went to at least 15 viewings, had our application rejected for a house we really liked, all while managing to keep our marriage in tact. Finally, we found the perfect place, applied and were approved! We aren't done yet, we still need to physically move. Tom and I know this will be for the better in the long run, but to be brutally honest, it has been hell trying to get this done being at my sickest. We had no idea how competitive renting in Silicon Valley really was until we tried it for ourselves. Everyone has an open house to see their rental. Being prepared with an application already filled out, proof of income and checkbook in hand to write a deposit became more normal than it should have been. These open houses make me think of the jungle and seeing which animal will win the title of king of the jungle for the day. It's like we all turn into tigers trying to claw our way to the top. The prize is not food, it is shelter in this instance. Really expensive shelter that doesn't even have to be in the best part of the jungle. The best part of the jungle is left for the tigers of Facebook, Apple and Google. We peon tigers get the scraps and even then we have to fight to the death for a little morsel. Welcome to the jungle, be prepared to sell a kidney!

Where? We are going to be living on an area of reclaimed land that sticks out into the San Francisco Bay, called Redwood Shores. Technically, it is part of Redwood City, but is further north and separated geographically. It is away from the hustle and bustle of Silicon Valley, and off the beaten track from the freeways. We were looking for something a little quieter and a place that felt like a healing space for me to recover. Tom and I are both home all day (he works from home) and we both need peace and quiet, away from construction! We will be just 13 miles from Stanford, although funnily enough it will still take half an hour to get to the hospital. Oh, the joys of Bay Area traffic. This will be much better for us and for my family during transplant. It will be much nicer to be able to recover from transplant in the comfort of my own home.

How? How are we doing this? One word : Tom. Tom is doing this. It has been extremely difficult. Not having family by our side to help has been hard. We made the decision to move to California, but in times like these it would be nice to be closer to others who could give us a hand. We are in the home stretch now and both at our breaking points, but Tom has worked so hard for the last two weeks with sorting, organizing, throwing away, and packing. I have done what I can, but I'm a big blob of mucus these days and can't do much more than give encouraging words and organize where I can. He deserves a lot of praise and a vacation. Unfortunately, none of us are going anywhere until I get some new airbags.

This was a huge curveball we didn't expect, but we listened to what was going on around us, literally and figuratively, and realized this was our chance to get out. We will be sad to leave Walnut Creek. We have made it our home and it was our first home in California. We are excited to try out a new part of the Bay Area and look forward to seeing what lies ahead for the two of us.

Bon voyage Walnut Creek, hello Redwood Shores!